Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis

Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	A hedron and a pair of horns.
Design	Chris Millar and Sam Stoddard
Development	Chris Millar and Sam Stoddard
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	September 2, 2016
Plane	Zendikar; Multiversal
Set size	Two 60-card theme decks
Expansion code	DDR; (for Duel Decks R)
Duel Decks
Magic: The Gathering Chronology

Duel Decks: Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis is the 18th set in the Duel Decks series. It was released on September 2, 2016.^[2]

Description[ | ]

The two decks represent the battle between Zendikar's protector, Nissa, and its would-be destroyer, Ob Nixilis. The ready-to-play, sixty-card decks showcase cards from across Magic's history, including two premium Planeswalker cards with new artwork and four other cards with new artwork (Ambition's Cost, Doom Blade, Crop Rotation and Wood Elves).

The Duel Decks include a Magic “learn to play” guide, a strategy insert, a spindown life counter and 5 tokens each.

Background[ | ]

Planeswalker Nissa Revane gathers her forces to protect Zendikar from annihilation. Drawing on the power of the land itself, she summons mighty Elementals to overwhelm her foes. Trapped on Zendikar for centuries, the demon Ob Nixilis will do anything to reignite his Planeswalker's spark and escape. He summons terrifying Demons and wields dark, destructive powers to lay his enemies to waste.

The stakes are high as Nissa and Ob Nixilis fight to control the power of the Khalni Heart. Who will prevail?

Decklists[ | ]

Nissa[ | ]

“

Nissa’s deck is about empowering your smaller creatures while summoning huge creatures like Elementals. Nissa’s power comes from her lands, as does the strength of cards like Scythe Leopard and Woodborn Behemoth. Keep playing lands to develop your board, but try to leave at least one land in your hand so you can trigger landfall when you need it the most.

Crop Rotation is a versatile card with a lot of powerful functions in the deck. The most straightforward are to search for Treetop Village so you can start attacking or Mosswort Bridge if you can get a free spell out of it. Because Crop Rotation is an instant, there are other tricky ways to use it. For instance you could search up a surprise blocker with Khalni Garden, trigger landfall during combat, or both! Your creatures with evoke offer additional flexibility. They’re best when you have enough mana to pay their full costs, but don’t be afraid to evoke Briarhorn or Cloudthresher early to disrupt your opponent’s plans.

When playing against Ob Nixilis’s deck, try to get your opponents life total low and keep it there. Some of the most powerful spells in that deck cost your opponent life, so a lower life total will give the opponent less room to maneuver. Flooding the board with tokens is also important because it makes the cards Innocent Blood and Smallpox less painful, but be aware that your opponent can punish that strategy with the fearsome Pestilence Demon.

”

Nissa

The tokens are:

0/1 Plant for Nissa, Voice of Zendikar and Khalni Garden (4x)
4/4 Elemental for Walker of the Grove

Ob Nixilis[ | ]

“

Ob Nixilis wants nothing more than to watch Zendikar suffer. As such, your deck is all about punishing the opponent. Your deck is not fast—your focus is on slowly grinding the opponent down. The wielder of Nissa’s deck will squirm as you slowly whittle away at his or her life total, eliminating your opponent’s resources one by one.

Ob Nixilis offers tremendous power, but it comes at a price. Some of the spells in this deck inflict pain on you, and you don’t have many ways to recoup the lost life. It’s important to plan ahead and defend yourself from opposing attacks accordingly. For instance, you might need to block an attack from Nissa’s deck even when you’re not in immediate danger of dying because you need to offset the life you’ll lose to Priest of the Blood Rite later in the game.

When playing against Nissa’s deck, don’t let the opponent overload the board with creatures if you can help it. You have some powerful spells that can force your opponent to sacrifice creatures, but it becomes more difficult to use those spells effectively as your opponent accumulates threats. Smallpox is a great at keeping the opponent’s hand small, but as you consider how to play this powerful sorcery, don’t forget that you have many cards with high mana costs you’ll want to cast later. Try to maneuver into a spot where Nissa’s deck loses three cards to Smallpox but you lose only one or two.

”

Ob Nixilis